What will Hasbro do after Episode III?

[Hasbro'sBountyHunter]

Sure enough, we'll see some E3 figures when the film comes out. But what will they so after that?

If you can't think that far off, how about this- what will Hasbro do after the SAGA line? They've made practically every version of a specific character. Maybe a full EU line?

[mrhat]

Well most likely after Episode 3 toys finally slow a bit, and after they do it to death as i am sure they will, they will start with Episode 1, make EVERY Character from it, the Episode 2, then Episode 3, Finally Classic Trilogy. mind you there are enough characters left unmade to keep them busy for an eternity.

[Rogue II]

After Episode 3, there is the release of the Classic Trilogy on DVD. Hopefully there will be a lot of new figures associated with that. Hasbro does have the rights to make figures until 2008.

[Vortex]

Well I can only hope the line will live that long. 3 years after the last movie is a long time to try to drag out a line.

I'm finding it strange that the quantity of Ep II goods have been scaled back. I would have guessed that they would be pumping a little more stuff out instead of this slow trickle. I know they are guaging from Ep I, but man, I hope they don't scale back for Ep III.

Anyone else think something major is going to happen/show up in Aug or around aug. 15 this year? The only reason why I'm guessing, is there's a big push of stuff for this date. The 25th Ann. Speeder, x-wing, voice command R2, gunship, area playset, that 25th ann silver R2 you get when you buy something or so much...I'm getting this gut feeling that there might be some suprise, news, or release of something coming out that day. You don't think he'd re-release the movie again for charity do you? A DVD announcement? Any thoughts??? Heck I'll just repost this and make this a new thread...

[pthfnder89]

Originally posted by tjovonovich
Well I can only hope the line will live that long. 3 years after the last movie is a long time to try to drag out a line.

Exactly. I think Hasbro will stop producing Star Wars toys before the liscence runs out in 2008.

[anarky]

look at how they've mangled batman and other lines that could be cash cows for them

i think we'll see some neon-armor qui-gons and skateboard champion chewbaccas before we all get disgusted and let hasbro sink into its murk and further ruin the transformers line

[Beast]

pthfnder89, 3 years after EIII, isn't that big of a deal. There will still be the DVD release of EIII, and the DVD release of the OT a year or so later, to keep the line running. Not to mention the planned DVD releases of the Ewok movies, and the Ewoks and Droids cartoons on DVD. Remeber, the new line lasted from 1995-1999 with no new movie. I am sure it can last until 2008 or even longer if done right.

anarky, I rather doubt that that would ever happen. Lucas still holds tight reigns on the figures. He's even made them cancel figures, that he thought didn't fit in with what he considers the Star Wars Universe. We may get more EU figures in later years, but nothing like that.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[Vortex]

Jar Jar, I can only hope your ideas and thoughts hold true. I would like to see the line last that long, but I'm going to flip the coin and present the other side...

I'm sure you lived through the vintage death, like I did. Even as popular as the toys and movies were the line ended before its time. Mismanagement by kenner/hasbro? Lack of demand? Wasn't the hot thing anymore? Doesn't matter, all good things must come to an end.

The number of figs, ship and general items released for Ep II has me worried. The numbers are realy low, as is availability, and it's all spaced too far apart in my opinion. Kids have limited attention spans, and there's little loyality to toys anymore...same can be said for collectors. We get impatient, frustrated, something else is a mover and shaker or cooler and we just drop one thing for another or get out all together. Plus in 6 years a lot of our priorities will change and a lot can happen between now and then...GL might die of a heart attack or wash his hands of the whole universe after the last movie... Anyway they scaled back production #'s for this movie, and if they scale back for Ep III or do something similar, we'll only have a hand full of items to buy for our collections. And we should hypothetically be in the middle of this star wars craze. More figs, more ships, more this or that...but its not happening. The 2nd movie just came out with one to go, they should be hitting this for all its worth. We are at the peak right now, but it seems we're already going down hill.

The movies and cartoons (half hour commercials realy) are the best advertisments for the toys and once the movies or cartoons are gone, sales slip drastically for the toys.

There are a lot of collectors out there, but places like WM, TRU, FAO don't seem to care. Before Ep II hit, the only place you could find star war figs around here was TRU, and even then it was 2 pegs by 4 pegs. No one else stocked them, unless they had some exclusive coming in, and then they'd try to push what was left out the door, if they couldn't, it got packed away. Even today the displays around here are shrinking and going away. There was a stock boy at target boxing up delux figs to make room for MIB II stuff. Once the big stores stop ordering because they can't move the figs or demand goes down, the line stalls out. Hasbro won't sell directly to us, and I don't think its worth their time and money to sell to small toy shops like KEBco, or Brian's, or who ever...

We might have a lot of DVD coming down the line, but I don't recall the Ep I DVD gearing up the toy sales again. I didn't see kids or collectors with arm fulls of toys with their DVD in hand. It might be differnt with other people and areas. An example of this is when I went in to buy my Tron DVD, the guys behind the counter were practically giving way whole tron action figure sets for free. They wanted 20 bucks for the light cycles, and all the figs. No one was buying them, and I sure didn't want them. Exculsive or not.

The line survived from 95-99 without a movie since its was a new item, it jump started the toy collecting "industry" again. I want to say it was the 1st time a line was re-released...who knows when it will cool off or something better comes along. Toys are like a fad, here one moment, gone the next.

EU is a touchy subject. I'd personally like to see more, but the Shadows line did poorly, as did the 1st run EU figs. I was slightly disapointed with these lines. Nothing was as I imagined. Everything in the novels, comics, essential guids, star wars gamer, and video games are an artist's creations and all of us have an idea as to what a Yuzan Vong looks like, or what Kell, Winter, Tycho, Thrawn, and Face look like. There's nothing static to design off of, its all artistic impression and what we as the reader imagine these people to look like. EU could be a disaster or a line saver, depending how they work it.

This line could carry on till 2008, but history and recent events are making me believe otherwise. I can only keep my fingers cross that it lives that long, but too many of us are into the moment and things fade away.

I don't want to be a downer, but when you step back, take a look at how the number of figs are decreasing, stores not stocking, or re-stocking current figs, and hindsight from the mid 80's...it will be amazing if the line lives that long, but I do have my fingers crossed.

[Obi-Don]

Lets just hope the line keeps going. There is a lot to make and for me, SW will never die.

[jjreason]

Collector frustration is a more important point than I think Hasbro wants to think about. I believe it may have played a part in the death of the vintage line. The GIJoe figures coming out had AWESOME paint, accessories, poseablility, etc. and they blew the POTF figures out of the water in these areas. I was a huge sw fan for a kid. Huge. My brother and I had a complete vintage collection UNTIL GIJoe came along. I see the same happening here. If Hasbro doesn't pump out the figures and make them a) accessible and b) cool, it won't continue without movie hype to drive it.
I don't think that it can survive in a collectors-only marketplace anyway. We need the kids to want to "collect them all!", not just get one Yoda and go back to Gundam Wing or Transformers.
Internet sites like this can go a long way in appeasing frustrated collectors. Through this site and others like it, we should be able to build complete collections if we work together and help our friends. The vintage line didn't have that support.
I still think Hasbro needs to accept some input from the collectors, as well as GL. Together we could keep the line going until 2008 and possibly beyond. It's a great license with so much more they could do. Properly done, we could see many, many more great figures and toys. Let's hope so.